1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for acquiring communication information between communication devices which are capable of transmitting and receiving electronic mail or facsimiles information.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional communication devices have a function, for example, such that, if a sender transmits information to a desired receiver and then a trouble of a communication device arises at a receiver side, such trouble is generally informed to the sender for urging the sender to transmit the information again. Moreover, these devices have a function of transmitting the information to the receiver regardless of the receiver's presence or absence. However, these devices do not possess a function of informing the sender whether the transmitted information has correctly reached the desired receiver or not. Therefore, the sender needs to call the receiver on another occasion in order to confirm whether the receiver has received the transmitted information.
The Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 2(1990)-185158 proposes a communication device for solving this problem, which is capable of informing the corresponding sender automatically about the fact that the information transmitted by the sender has been received at the receiver side.
By the communication device in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 2(1990)-185158, the fact that the information transmitted by the sender has been received at the receiver side is positively informed to the sender. However, there is a problem such that the report is given to the sender telling that the transmitted information has been confirmed on a communication device at the receiver side, even when the receiver is not present and cannot check the transmitted information.
Especially, in the case that such communication devices are applied to a communication system which transmits or receives electronic mail between a plurality of communication devices via a host computer on a network, there is a problem such that the sender has to reconfirm whether the receiver has received the transmitted information because it is not clear when the receiver checks the transmitted information (e.g., electronic mail) unless the sender receives a return message from the receiver.